Never Again
by MiHnn
Summary: There were times when he did things, but he didn't know why. He didn't understand why he was 'trying' for Hermione Granger.


**A/N - **Written for Savva for the GE exchange. The prompt I chose was: Hermione Granger has a secret.

* * *

**Never Again**

**.**

It had been ages since Hermione had last stepped foot into the Ministry of Magic courtrooms. She remembered them almost as if she had been there the day before: the dark, dim lit halls and the cold that seemed to freeze right through to her bones. Even though she hadn't been nervous since she had found out about the questioning—or rather, 'meeting' as those in the Ministry called it—Hermione found the butterflies in her stomach unsettling. It was almost enough for her to admit that she was worried enough to contact Harry, to fill him in with every sordid detail and ask him to help her. He would get there within seconds, she knew, and he would do everything in his power to ensure that she would be able to walk away from this scot-free. But she didn't want to drag him into this. It was obviously she who had gotten herself into this current situation, and it was up to her to get herself out. Still, she missed the comforting presence of her best friend, even if her pride wouldn't allow her to go to him unless she really needed the help.

The walk down the hall to the smallest of the courtrooms was excruciatingly fast, even though her footsteps were deliberately slow to postpone the inevitable. When she did finally reach the room she was to enter and pulled open the iron, heavyset door, she found herself suddenly glued to the spot. Out of all possible invigilators, she hadn't expected _him_ to be the one to handle her case.

Draco Malfoy stood stoically still with his back towards her, the rustling of paper and the sudden twitch of his arm proof that he was flipping through a file. His straight back, the meticulously pressed robes and his neat pale blond hair the perfect image to go along with the recent opinion she had cultivated about him. Strict, unyielding and stern, that was what they called him. And she had to be one of the unluckiest to get him to hear her case.

It took a moment before Malfoy finally turned around, his face inexpressive and his grey eyes even more so. "Granger."

Hermione, deciding to play the game that he was—only better—nodded curtly. "Malfoy."

"Close the door," he ordered as he took his seat, choosing to sit on one of the two chairs in the middle of the room.

Closing the door, she sat on the chair opposite his, immediately shifting to try to make herself more comfortable. The lack of a table worried her. She felt exposed, unable to hide the nervous energy she felt. But she was determined to keep herself cool, calm and collected. She really didn't want to give him any reason to doubt her.

She found herself waiting patiently as Malfoy leaned back against his own chair and propped an ankle on his knee. Placing the red dossier on his lap, he turned the pages until he came across what he had been looking for. "I never expected to see _you_ here, Granger," he said with a worrisome frown, his gaze fixed on the words in front of him.

Hermione eyed him warily, wondering why he even bothered with small talk. "I never expected to see you in law enforcement."

Cool grey eyes rose to meet her brown ones. "Not law enforcement. Evidence. I'm the one the law goes to when they want a charge to stick." He smiled humourlessly at her. "But I'm sure you know all about that."

Despite the promise she had made to herself, Hermione shifted in her seat, and she didn't miss his quick glance as it fell on her hand. She fisted her fingers to stop the slight tremor. She didn't want him to know exactly how nervous she was. Hermione found herself unable to stay silent as he watched her carefully, his gaze almost penetrative. "Am I charged with anything?"

With a quick movement, he shut the dossier, an elegant eyebrow rising in question. "What do _you_ think?"

Hermione shifted again. "If you're not going to start the 'meeting' then I don't see any reason why I should stay here." She made a move to get up, but it was Malfoy's tone that made her pause.

"Sit down, Granger. I'm not here to play games. We both know you're guilty." She opened her mouth to protest, but he spoke over her. "And don't you try denying it."

He looked at her meaningfully, and Hermione couldn't help but keep her mouth shut and look at him in dread. This was it, then; a split second decision will land her behind the bars of Azkaban.

"However," Malfoy said with a low breath. "It is the consensus of those...above me, that since you're a member of the infamous Golden Trio who brought the downfall of the Dark Lord, that we let this small... _incident_... slide. They are looking to me to handle it."

Hermione felt as if her emotions were on a rollercoaster, having felt safe when the man opposite her told her of her possible freedom, to feeling dread within seconds when he had just as effectively caused doubt. "And how are you going to 'handle it'?"

His grey eyes sparked with something that unhinged her, the slight twitch of his jaw being the only emotion she had seen from him thus far. "Tell me why you did it."

Hermione simply stared at him, wondering if this was a trick to get her to confess. Almost as if he could read her thoughts, Malfoy rolled his eyes.

"We all know that you did it, Granger. No one else would have done it the way only you could have." He looked at her almost as if he was curious. "Tell me why."

Deciding that even if it was a trick, she would gladly take the consequences, Hermione began with a low, cautious tone. "He was abusing his house-elves."

"They were his to abuse."

"That doesn't give him the right. They're creatures with souls. No house elf deserved to be so brutally treated. What he made them do to each other was disgusting."

Malfoy eyed her coolly. "So you freed them all by forging his signature on a Ministerial document, committing fraud of the highest kind and risking three years in Azkaban. And all for a few house-elves?"

She stared at him in determination. "Someone had to."

"And the fact that he was and is the current Minister for Magic didn't matter to you at all?"

"Someone had to free those poor creatures. They deserved better."

"And yet, what he did was not against the law, but what you did to rectify this fault of his, was."

Hermione stopped herself from shifting in her seat. "What will happen to me?" She never intended to ask that question. She was supposed to be the strong one, the one without fear. _Yet even those who are perceived as fearless are afraid of something_, she couldn't help but think.

Malfoy simply looked back at her, the interest in his eyes no more than if he was observing a blank wall in mild contemplation. "I have a few options. What those above me prefer is merely a slap on the wrist than what I could possibly give you. A public apology, your services for the Ministry as a consultant for no less than a year, and your job."

Hermione felt her heart stop beating. "They want to fire me?" she whispered in surprise, more to herself rather than the person sitting opposite her.

The slight shrug of his shoulders made it seem like he mocked her. "It's that or Azkaban." In one smooth move, he was once again on his feet, dusting his immaculate robes lightly. "The choice is yours." Stepping forward, he then handed her the red dossier than he had in his hands. "Sign it, and you get the deal. If not, I have no choice."

Hermione took the folder from him numbly. "What about the House-Elves Union? The Equal Minority Act that I've been working on?" Surely they would save those two projects. They were the only two things that she created that made the Ministry look that much friendlier towards what they considered 'lesser beings'.

Malfoy's face held no expression when he said, "As of this morning, they were both disbanded. Your employees have been given their termination notice and a generous monetary package to tide them over."

It felt like a chill had claimed her body, stiffening her from head to toe. "Did you do this?" She found it difficult to believe that anyone else would let forty-five employees go with such cool authority as he was rumoured to have done.

"They wanted a fair solution. This was it. You have until the end of the week." Without a final word, he strode past her and out the door, leaving her sitting alone with a red dossier in her lap and her fingers curling in unbridled rage as the large door squeaked on its hinges and closed slowly behind him.

She had always hated men like what he had become. Men who thought those who weren't fortunate enough to be born pure-blood were a waste of space. The majority of the people employed under her were Muggle-borns and half-bloods. How dare he make them pay for her mistake? They had families to feed, children whose education they were to see to.

She never expected Malfoy to change from how he was in Hogwarts, but she did expect him not to blatantly show off that fact.

Hermione's fists tightened around the dossier so tightly her fingers turned white. She was going to fight him with all her strength; and she was going to do it through his best friend.

* * *

The past few hours had been absolutely tedious and Draco Malfoy tried his best not to scowl.

"Well, that went well."

At the tone of his friend, he finally did scowl. "She's a child."

Blaise gave him a meaningful look. "She's a year younger than you. Her sister on the other hand—"

"Daphne is promised to Theodore Nott," Draco muttered bitterly as he took his seat on one of the plush chairs that littered the Malfoy Manor sitting room. "I checked."

Blaise made his way to the glass goblets and poured two glasses of Firewhisky. "I don't understand why you're against her. It's a perfect match."

Draco took the drink reluctantly. He had never been much of a drinker, especially during the day. But the warm liquid burned its way through and made him feel infinitely better. "There's no one being shoved down your throat, I presume."

"Me?" Blaise laughed, as he made his way to the large windows. "Merlin, no. Mother doesn't care who I marry, so long as I'm happy." He looked down, where Draco knew Blaise had a clear view of the entrance to their house, where his parents were currently saying goodbye to their recent guests. "She really is attractive." He took another sip, contemplating his next words. "Why not marry her?"

"Her parents want her to marry me for the family money."

"Everyone wants to marry you for the family money. Besides, the Greengrasses are a respectable family."

Draco glared. "That's what my mother said."

Blaise looked through the window once more. "Your father doesn't seem that impressed."

"He wouldn't be," Draco muttered under his breath before he took another sip of the tangy liquid. "Very few families are as rich as ours."

"But, your mother…"

"Wants a grandchild. I don't think anything else matters."

Blaise looked up from the window "Oh, I wouldn't say that. Merlin forbid you ever marry someone who doesn't have a respectable, old wizarding family name."

Draco had to chuckle at the ludicrous thought. "I think I would first be disowned."

"Then ignored," his friend said with a grin.

Swirling the amber liquid within his glass goblet, Draco frowned. "But that will never happen. I suppose I should be happy that I have a choice to some extent. My parents never did."

Blaise eyed him curiously. "But it worked out for your parents, didn't it?"

Draco didn't say a word, choosing to take a deep gulp and finish the drink in his hand before his parents came back into the room to tell him the benefits of a Greengrass-Malfoy marriage. Luckily for him, that happened the moment he finished the last drop.

* * *

It wasn't a habit of Hermione to ask favours from friends, especially favours that she knew they wouldn't like performing in the first place. This was why she always handled everything herself. For a long time she had described herself as being the person who other people usually went to for help, rather than the one who approached people for help. During her Hogwarts years she helped Harry constantly with the fight against Voldemort while looking over the boys' homework whenever she could. She was the person who was known to have the answers to everything, not only as to those pertaining to schoolwork, but also the particulars that surrounded their personal and romantic lives. This was why it was difficult for Hermione to come to the conclusion that she was convinced gave her no other choice.

Hermione sat still as she waited, her fingers warm around her cup of coffee while she eyed her companion across the table. As expected, the request had been met with a mild curiosity before the denial had been met swiftly and to the point.

"I'm not doing it." It had been a while since Hermione had seen the specific look her redheaded friend sported, and still she had never seen it aimed towards her.

"I wouldn't have asked unless it was important."

Ginny frowned. "You're not asking me something simple, Hermione. He's… arrogant."

"Maybe," Hermione stated diplomatically. "But you have to admit, he has really been trying the past few months."

Her best friend shook her head. "It's a rouse. He's just infatuated with me. The minute I respond he'll drop me faster than a Quaffle."

Desperate, Hermione bit her lower lip in thought. She had never been good at convincing Ginny to do anything. When she makes up her mind she always followed through, no matter what people thought and no matter what the consequences.

It was probably Hermione's worrying her bottom lip that made Ginny ask her gently, "Why is this important?"

Hermione sighed. She had wanted to keep silent as to her predicament. She knew how it would work. Ginny would tell Ron, who would tell Harry, and before she would know it, she would have an army behind her trying to fix the problem for her. She loved them all dearly but she didn't want to drag them into this. She wanted to handle it by herself, at least for now.

"It's not that important, really. It's this bill I want to pass—"

Ginny rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "The house-elves! Of course."

"You know they are still being mistreated, even after the war. You would think that wizards and witches would finally realise that by oppressing such creatures that—" She paused when Ginny touched her arm lightly.

"We know, Hermione. Your cause has been drilled into everyone's heads."

"So, you'll help me?"

Her friend sighed despondently. "You know I really don't want to."

"But, I need you to."

With a severe look, Ginny nodded. "All right. I'll talk to Blaise." Hermione was barely grinning before Ginny looked at her meaningfully. "You know he's going to blackmail a date out of me, don't you?"

Still, Hermione grinned. "But you'll be sacrificing yourself for the greater good. And I'm sure you'll be able to go through it with no problem."

"Of course," her friend said with an evil glint in her eye. "Because when the time comes that Blaise does ask me out on a date and I feel obligated to accept, _you_ are coming with me."

* * *

It would have been a completely mundane weekday had Draco decided not to go over the weekly financials of the Ministry, a service that he never quite enjoyed but was forced to endure due to the recent backlog of extra work his department was handling. But as it happened to be, he did decide to scan the forms and before long, his brows had knitted in a confused frown.

"Sutton."

His secretary came in quickly, clipboard in hand and ready for any request that he would throw at her.

"I asked for this week's projections, not last week's."

"That is this week's."

"No," he said carefully as he scanned the dates. The information seemed right, but there was a discrepancy. "I don't think so. The Equal Rights Commission for Wizards and Creatures has been disbanded. There shouldn't be any costs from that department."

Frowning, Amy Sutton checked her clipboard, flipping a few pages until she found what she was looking for. "No, Mr Malfoy, it hasn't. According to this, a representative presented the bill just yesterday."

Draco felt his frown deepen. "That's not possible. I sent the letter stating the cease and desist order myself."

Sutton shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you, Mr Malfoy. According to what we know, the organisation is still active."

Draco dismissed her quickly, standing up immediately with all the notes in his hands. There was one other person who could have changed the order he had put into place, and that person happened to have an unhealthy interest in a certain redhead.

Draco found Blaise where he knew he would, two floors up and through a long hallway to the right, smiling dashingly with his secretary as the witch blushed prettily. Had it been any other time he would have looked on with amusement. But this was far from an amusing time. Instead, he walked passed Blaise with a low voice and a curt tone. "Your office. Now."

Blaise stared after Draco with a confused look before excusing himself from the flirtation politely. He then entered his office to find Draco had already made himself comfortable.

"Someone stole your favourite quill again?" he asked good-naturedly. He shut the double doors behind him and took his place in the seat on the side of his desk.

Draco scowled, feeling not in the mood for any small talk. "Why is the Equal Rights Commission for Wizards and Creatures still operational?"

Blaise raised one surprised eyebrow at him before a level of understanding dawned on his face. "I take it that it was not supposed to be operational."

"Very good, Blaise. I would give you a chocolate frog, if I had one."

Blaise gave him a meaningful look. "You don't need to be all prissy about it. What happened? Why was it supposed to be disbanded?"

Draco leant back in his seat and sighed. "Granger hasn't been playing by the rules."

"Granger is a member of the Golden Trio. When have they ever played by the rules?"

"What did Weasley promise you?" Draco asked quickly, choosing not to answer the obvious question that was posed. "A date? Maybe dinner? Did she promise to look after your mother for you?"

Blaise smiled despite the angry tone Draco had adopted. "I see that you're in a good mood."

Draco didn't bother to reply. It was clear to him that Blaise was in a substantially better mood than him and nothing he could say or do could change that.

"Ginny told me—"

"Her name is Ginny now?"

Blaise ignored him. "Ginny told me that Granger needed time to sort out her affairs. She wanted a month to establish someone to take over and then she would leave quietly."

"A month?" Draco shook his head. "What can she possibly do in a month? It doesn't matter if it's now or then, her organisation won't last long."

Blaise shrugged lightly. "I don't know what she has in mind, but aren't you curious?"

"Not in the slightest."

"Now I know you're lying."

Draco scowled. "No matter what I do, no matter how I do it, she seems to somehow one-up me practically every time."

Bliase looked way too amused for Draco's comfort. "You sound insulted."

"I _am_ insulted."

"Then you're not looking at it properly." When Draco eyed his friend suspiciously, Blaise continued. "I take it this is not the first time she went behind your back?"

"No. But it is the first time she went to my friend to get help." Draco gave Blaise a pointed look, one that his best friend felt no shame from receiving.

"It's just a month, Draco."

Draco shook his head. "She's undermining my authority. I can't let her get away with it. Either you will have to help me or I will be forced to take drastic measures to fix this. What will it be, Blaise? Will you choose me, your friend, or a witch you hardly know?"

* * *

The last person who ever wanted to see her called Hermione into his office. She spent days making excuses until finally, she gave into her curiosity and met Blaise Zabini on his own turf. Blaise was never one to be openly rude to her, but he didn't like her, all the same. He never liked her, if she remembered right.

"You wanted to see me?" Hermione sat on the edge of her seat, her back straight and waiting for a fight. She had never been able to ignore blatant hatred whenever she saw it, even though she did her best to raise her head and proudly be herself despite it all. And even though Zabini had never said anything to her about how much he didn't like her, she could see it in the way he stood away from her, the creasing of his brow and his curt words.

But that had been quite a while ago. Zabini looked more apologetic than she had ever seen him.

"I thought you might want to be warned."

"Warned?" Hermione asked incredulously. "About what?"

She could see the battle waging inside of him as he picked up a piece of parchment and handed it over to her silently. "You've made an enemy, Granger."

Hermione stared incredulously at the order in her hand. She was requested to attend another hearing at the courtrooms below the Ministry of Magic to answer an additional crime charge that will only be divulged at the hearing itself. She had a strong suspicion as to who could be behind it: Draco Malfoy.

She knew that asking Ginny to help by asking Zabini for a favour would draw attention to herself. But in her mind, she had no choice. Getting rid of her was one thing, she had broken the law and was given a lenient punishment, which she freely accepted, but she didn't want all the work she had put in to be for nothing. She had spent years creating the organisation and fine-tuning it until it ran like a well-oiled machine. The last thing that she wanted was for the poor creatures of the wizarding world not to have an advocate who was willing to fight for their rights, because she wasn't good enough in hiding what she had done. Once in a while she would make a mistake, she was only human, after all. But it wasn't fair if others were forced to suffer for her actions.

She sincerely wished she could confide in Harry and Ron regarding these issues, but she knew that was a lost cause. She was the only one who could solve this problem.

"He's not giving up, is he?" she asked softly, more to herself.

Zabini hesitated before he said flippantly, "He would never give up when it came to you."

Even though it was meant to be a casual sentence, Hermione could hear the weight behind his words. "If you're implying—"

"I'm not implying anything."

Hermione nodded. "Fine. Thank you for this. At least I know it's coming. I can do something to fix this."

Zabini nodded, and Hermione fought the urge to ask him why he was helping her. Deciding against opening old wounds, she stood up quickly.

"I'll see you around."

Zabini waited until she was nearly out of his office to call her back. "Granger!"

Hermione paused at the door, her expression one of confusion as she waited silently for him to continue.

"I might have been wrong. I thought he would be happier, but he's not."

Hermione fought her body hard to keep herself composed. She was not going to let this man break her. "It's too late for that now." As she started for the door, he called out for her again.

"Granger!" He hesitated only for a moment. "It's been confirmed. He will marry Astoria Greengrass."

Hermione didn't know what to make of this, especially because the last thing she ever expected was to get any form of compassion from Blaise Zabini. "Good for him," she said coldly before she walked out quickly and closed the door behind her. She only wished she felt as detached about the whole situation as she acted.

* * *

Draco frowned at the folder in his hand, wondering if he was doing the right thing. He didn't know what it was, but with Hermione Granger, whatever she did, it drew his full attention. If this had been anyone else, he would have dropped the case because he couldn't be bothered, but because it's Granger, he has gone out of his way to make sure that she didn't win. Draco could thank Blaise for showing him the distinction, an act that he still hasn't forgiven his friend for.

Inside the folder was his salvation. All he had to do was sign a document stating that Hermione Granger had breached an agreement and she would be thrown into Azkaban within minutes. He had thought he would be signing the document from the first chance he had, but it's been three days and he was still to lift a quill.

Draco shook his head, dropping his head onto his hands as he roughly ran his fingers through his immaculately kept hair. If someone had told him that he would be suffering a dilemma as pertaining to Hermione Granger, he would have scoffed in their faces. Yet, here he was, in his office at the Ministry, staring at a folder that holds a document that could send her to prison… And he was not signing it.

Why was he being nice to her? Why was he being so compassionate? When her case was first brought to him, he knew what he had to do. He was supposed to give her a severe punishment and go onto the next case. But he had saved her by looking for loopholes in the system, blaming the choices on non-existent people who apparently didn't want her to suffer. At the time he wondered if it was because he had changed, if he had become less technical and more compassionate. But days after that, he had been relentless in following Ministry procedures to incarcerate a wizard who had less evidence piled up against him than Granger had.

Draco was convinced; he was going mad.

A small knock on the door interrupted his tirade. "A Ms Granger to see you, Mr Malfoy."

Draco hesitated. If he were smart, he would tell his secretary that he wasn't seeing anyone today. What passed his lips was a breathy, "Fine."

Sutton ducked out quickly only to be replaced by Granger a minute later. She didn't look happy, and as a result, Draco's expression changed instantly from apprehension to cool detachment.

"What is the meaning of this?" she stormed into his office, a parchment in her hand. She tossed it onto his desk with flourish.

Draco took one look at the seal and knew what it was instantly. _Blaise._ He should have known the Slytherin was lying when he had said he chose their friendship over a bird.

"It looks like an order to me, Granger," he said coolly.

She bristled. "I'll have you know that I'm going to fight you, Malfoy. You won't get away with this."

"I disagree." He stood up calmly, walking around the desk so he was standing beside her, his tall form towering over her. "You made your bed, now lie in it."

Her gaze narrowed dangerously as she leaned forward. "This is not over," she hissed. She made a move to leave but something stopped her. It took a moment for Draco to realise that it was his hand around her bare wrist.

Granger's eyes widened as did his. She pulled away quickly, her expression one of panic as he stared at his own hand incredulously. There had been something, a flash of a memory that dissolved instantly when she had pulled away from him. His gaze met hers with confusion only to see fear in the depths of her eyes.

Granger stepped back quickly, and then she turned to run. But, he was quicker, his hands reaching out and clutching hers tightly.

He was assaulted with memories. They were a tangle of information, overlapping one over the other, but they all had one thing in common: Granger. A laughing Granger, a Granger kissing him, a Granger on his lap, whispering things into his ear, an angry Granger, a sad Granger, tears falling from her eyes and him kissing them away. It was all too much. And as soon as they filled his mind, they left him.

Draco stared incredulously as Granger stepped away from him. She had freed herself from his grasp once again.

"What was that?" had he been in any other mind-set, he would have noticed how raspy his voice sounded and even the grief-stricken look that he had on his face. But what he wanted was answers, especially because Hermione Granger, the witch who seemed to know more than she let on was trying to leave once again.

He blocked her quickly, rushing to the door and refusing to let her leave.

"Malfoy," she said calmly, even though her words were shaking. "You have to let me leave."

"Not until you tell me what I saw."

"What you saw?" she asked, panicked. "What did you see?"

He stepped forward. "Granger…"

She stepped back, her teeth worrying her bottom lip. "Don't come any closer."

That made him stop. "Why? What would happen if I did?" He stepped towards her again, and she took a step back.

"Stop it, Draco."

He stopped suddenly. He never thought that he would ever hear her use his first name the way she did. But there was something in her tone. Something familiar.

"Come here, Granger."

She turned on her heel and tried to run, but he caught her easily. The moment his skin touched hers the memories returned. He knew what to expect this time. He concentrated on them as hard as he could, each fleeting memory, understanding the story as it went along. He was brought back to the present when he was no longer touching her skin, while his hands clutched her arms tightly.

"You lied to me," he hissed, his body taught with anger.

Granger squirmed, her head shaking incessantly. "I did what I had to."

He shook her. "You _lied_ to me."

She continued to fight against him, trying her best to get out of his tightening grasp. But, Draco wouldn't let her. He pulled her closer until her body was flush against him.

"How long were you planning to keep this from me? How long has it been?"

She hesitated. "A year." Granger shook her head, mumbling to herself and ignoring him. "This shouldn't have happened. I don't understand why this is happening."

"Hermione!"

The sound of her name made her stop her mumblings and look up at him. It had been awhile, he realised, that he had kissed her. He bent his head on impulse, and felt the familiar stirrings of rejection when she moved her head away from him.

"No. Stop it. It's dangerous."

"What's dangerous?"

"This. You and me." She looked up into his eyes, her expression one of a desperate plea. "You heard the prophecy."

That made Draco pause, even though his grip only tightened around her.

The prophecy! How could he have forgotten about the prophecy? It had been Kingsley who had told them, his voice calm as he spoke of what Trelawney had been heard saying. They hadn't believed him until he had shown the image to them, letting them use the Pensieve he had in his office. No one had known about them at the time. No one but Blaise.

"Bugger the prophecy."

She looked at him seriously. "If we have a child, he will bring death and destruction to the world. You know that! You heard it."

"Like I said," he said calmly. "Bugger the prophecy."

"This is not something we can ignore, Draco. We have to stop this before it becomes too serious. Before we get out of hand—"

This time when he leant forward, Hermione had no time to pull away. His lips met hers ferociously, his grip tightening almost painfully in an effort to keep her close, the long-forgotten memories cementing themselves in his mind. She fought him for a moment, then her body went slack against his, but before long, her lips had parted under his and he was kissing her like it was the first and last time. He pulled her closer and closer, letting his fingers tangle in her hair as he practically devoured her.

When he finally pulled away from her, he noticed the look in her eye. "We're not doing that again. I'm not letting you wipe my memory a second time."

"The spell we used clearly didn't work," she said sadly. "I should have Obliviated you."

"And give me no hope to ever recover my memories?"

Hermione shook her head, completely distracted by the one aspect that she had failed. "I should have left. I shouldn't have stayed back when we had done all this." Her voice became softer. "I should have listened to Zabini."

His fingers tightened around her. "Why did you stay back?" he asked her softly, his voice coaxing her, almost teasing her.

Despite it all, Hermione smiled. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

He pulled her even closer. "Remind me never to listen to you ever again."

"But the prophecy—"

He kissed her quickly, deeply, intending to make her forget about everything but him.

"Bugger the prophecy," he said again as he breathlessly parted from her.

"Draco—"

His lips met hers, and she spoke against his lips even though her words were muffled. "Won't you let me say anything?"

"Never," he whispered, as his lips attacked her throat and she let out a happy sigh. "Never again will I agree to your crazy plans, Hermione. I let you convince me to forget you once, but never again. I love you enough not to listen to you."

Her breath hitched. "You love me—?"

He kissed her again, refusing to acknowledge the words that had slipped from his lips. "Not in the slightest," he muttered against her lips before kissing her again, and again, and again.

_Fin._

**A/N2: **Still 5 spots left for the Christmas Gift Giveaway. Link can be found on my profile.


End file.
